Safety railway-car



(No Model.)

EQHENN. SAFETY RAILWAY GAR. No. 295.637; Patented Mar. 25', 1884.

Z- x A WITNESSES:

n, PETERS, PholoLiliwgnphaL vlminmm. D. Q

45 together.

PATENT OFFICE.

' EDUARD HENN, OF JERSEY CITY, N EW' JERSEY.

SAFETY RAl LWAY-CAR.

V v SPECIFICATION forming part'o'f Letters Patent No.295,637, dated March 25, 1884.

' Application filed November 10,1883. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDUARD HENN, of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Atlowing is a specification. This invention has reference to certain improvements in safety attachments to railwaytachments to Railroad-Oars, of which the fo1- IO cars for which Letters Patent have heretofore been granted to me under date of Augustl, 1882, No. 261,923, which .improvements are designed with aview to facilitate the opening of the sliding roof-sections from the inside of the ,car, even in case one or both of them should be obstructed for some reason or other. The improvements are also intended to produce the automatical opening of the roof-sections when the car becomes derailed and upset. I

2 5 sometimes either one or both of these roof-sections become clogged or otherwise obstructed, in which case neither of the roof-sections could be opened, whereby the whole safety attachment becomes useless. To avoid this,the mech- 0 anism by which the roof-sections are operated has to be so arranged that they can be opened independently of each other, and that, furthermore, in case both roof-sections should be obstructed, either one or both of the roof-sec- 3 5 tions can be opened either by persons in the car, or automaticallyin case the car is thrown off the track and thrown over on'its side.

For this purpose my invention consists of a railway-car provided with escape-openings in 40 the roof, and with longitudinally-sliding roofsections that are actuated by suitable mechanism from the inside of the car, which mechanism can be so adj usted thateither oneof the roof-sections can be moved separately or both The invention further consists of the longitudinallysliding roof sctions', which are provided with transversely-sliding auxiliary sections and with means whereby the latter are locked to the roof-sections in such a manner that the auxiliary sections may be opened from the inside of the car or automatically by the upsetting of the same. r

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side view of a railway-car with my improved safety attachment and with part broken away. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of the mechanism for operating the sliding roof-sec- Fig. 3 is a tions, drawn on a larger scale. bottom View of the car-roof and of the mechanism for operating the sliding roof-sections;

and Fig. 4 represents a detail end view,

partlyin section on line 00 :0, Fig. 2, and a plan of said actuating mechanism; and Fig. 5, a vertical transverse section of the same on line 3/ 3 Fig.2. 1-

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the drawings, A represents a railwaycar, the roof of which is provided with two or more escape-openings, a a, of sufiicient size to admit the convenient passage of persons. The

escape-openings a a are closed by sliding roofsections B, the flanged sides of which are guided in longitudinal ways I) at the outside of the roof. The longitudinally-sliding roof-sections B B abut, when in position to close the escape-openings a a, against an intermediate fixed roof-section, O, which is provided with transverse end flanges, b b, that overlap the roof-sections B B. These roof sections are 0perated by suitable actuating mechanism at the interior of the car, .which mechanism is supported on a hanger-plated, attached to the roof. The actuating mechanism consists of two sliding rack-bars, e e, which latter are pivoted at their ends to upwardlyextending arms a 6', connected to the roof-sections B B. The rack-bars e e are guided parallel to each other between the hanger-plate d and a front guideplate, d. They are moved in opposite directions to each other by intermeshing pinions e 6 which turn on short shafts of the hanger-plate, the pinion e" meshing with a gear-Wheel, f, having handles f for operating the same. The pinion e is made of such a thickness that it meshes with the front rack-bar e and with the pinion 6 but not with the rear raclcba-r c, with which latter the shown clearly in Fig. 4. Thus the pinion e transmits motion to the pinion c and moves also one of the rack-bars. By turning, there-- fore, the gearwheel f in one direction, the rack-bars are moved in opposite directions to each other, and thereby the sliding roof-sections B B moved away from the fixed roofsection 0, so as to clear the exit-openings a a. By turning the gear-wheel f in an opposite direction, the sliding roof-sections B B are moved toward the fixed roof-section G and the exitopenings a a closed. As the sliding roof-sections B B are liable to get clogged by ice, by the warping of the car-roof, or by other obstructions, it is necessary that the roof-sections B B can be moved independently of each other, so that in case either one should be obstructed the other will be able to move and clear the exitopenings. For this purpose levers g g are pivoted at opposite sides of the rack-bars to the hanger-plate d and front plate, d, and provided with pins g, which engage, respectively, longitudinal grooves of the rack-bars e 0. Each lever g is provided with a handle, g for operating the same. A pin, h, of each lever is engaged by a check-spring h, having a projection or rest, h which spring is attached to the roof of the car. WVhen either one of the levers g g is raised'until-its pin h passes above the rest h of the check-spring, the lever g is retained in raised position, and thereby its rackbar thrown out of gear with its pinion. In this position of the rack-bar the second rackbar, and consequently one roof-section only, 'is moved when the gear-wheelf is turned. In case the other roof-section is to be moved, the second lever g and its rack-bar is raised, and thereby the connection of the latter with the motion-transmitting pinion interrupted. By lowering the lever g, the pin of the same passes below the rest If of the check-spring h. so that the latter retains the lever, and thereby the rack-bar connected thereto, in lowered position, so as to mesh with its pinion.

If, in case of danger, it should be found that, owing to obstructions, one of the roof-sections should be clogged and that the gear wheel f cannot be turned, then one or the other of the levers y is raised, so that on turning the gearwheel the unobstructed roof-section responds to the action of the gear-wheel independently of the other roofsection. Should, however, both roof-sections be obstructed, so that neither can be opened from the inside, then recourse has to be taken to an auxiliary and tran sverselysliding roof-section, D, which is guided by overlapping rails 71 i or transverse arc-shaped ways i z" of each roof-section B, as shown in Fig. 2. Each auxiliary section D is locked to one of the ways '5 by a sliding and springpressed latch, Z, that enters a recess of said way, and is guided at the under side of the auxiliary roof-section D. The latch l is made wider at the rear end and provided with flanges Z Z, that are engaged by the ends of a forked and weighted lever, m, fulcrumed to the under side of the auxiliary roof-section D. By turning the lever on to either side the latch Z is withdrawn from the recess of the way 2", and the auxiliary roof-section D may be moved to either side on its ways without difficulty. I

In case of: derailment and upsetting of the car, the weighted lever on will be thrown by gravity to one side or the other of the longi- V tudinal axis of the roof-section, and thereby the latch withdrawn, so that the auxiliary roofsection is automatically opened by the shock imparted to the car when thrown on its side. The passengers in danger can thereby escape through the exit-openings and evade the danger of getting suffocated by smoke or burned with the car. The additional safeguards, thus provided, adapt the car specially for railway mail, baggage, express, and passenger cars, and furnish a simple and convenient means whereby employs and passengers may escape in the event of collision of the train or derailment of the car.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination of a car-roof having transverse escape-openings, longitudinallysliding roof-sections guided on ways of the roof, mechanism arranged in the interior of the car for moving the sliding roof-sections in opposite directions, and mechanism, substantially as described, whereby either. roof-section may be moved independently of the other, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a car-roof having transverse escape-openings, sliding roof-sections guided in ways of the roof, parallel rackbars connected to said roof-sections, pihions turning on a fixed hanger-plate and engaging said rack-bars, a gear-wheel meshing with one of said pinions and having handles, levers pivoted to said hanger-plate and engaging grooves of said rack-bars, and check-springs which ongage said levers and retain them, tog ether with the rack-bars, in raised orlowered position, substantially as set forth.

3. In a safety attachment to railway-cars, the combination of a car-roof having transverse escape-openings, longitudinally-sliding roof-sections guided on ways of the roof, auxiliary transversely-sliding roof-sections guided on ways of the main sections, and means whereby the auxiliary roof-sections are locked to or released from the main sections, substantially as described.

4. As an improvement in safety attachments to railway-cars, the combination of a car-roof having transverse escapeopenings, sliding roof-sections guided on ways of the roof, auxiliary transversely-sliding roof-section guided on ways of the main sections, a spring-actuated slide-latch for locking the auxiliary section, and a fulcrumed and weighted lever engaging said latch to open it automatically by gravity when the car is tilted, substantially as EDUARD 'HENN.

Witnesses:

PA L GoErEL, SIDNEY MANN. 

